Washington Nonprofit Conference Keynote: 'Will the Mail Be There in the Future?'

So, Taub said, the "postal service needs radical changes if it wants to survive. The USPS must adapt to meet the needs of how people consume mail today."

The problem is the public isn't even quite sure how losing the USPS would affect daily life. In fact, while more than 98 percent of people surveyed in a focus group said their lives would be negatively affected if the USPS failed to exist, they all had trouble defining how and why, Taub said. That's troubling in and of itself.

Of course, the nonprofit sector knows how vital the USPS is for providing direct mail, soliciting donations and building relationships with donors. Without it — and without the nonprofit rates — the sector would take a huge hit … the type of hit the USPS has already taken.

Taub urged attendees to continue to keep these issues in the limelight, but ultimately, he offered no solutions. While there may be some good news, Taub himself was short on truly offering how that good news actually may help the USPS stem the tide and reverse course.

It was an engaging keynote, but at the end of the day, the USPS is still in trouble, rates won't be going down anytime soon, and the nonprofits are going to be affected one way or the other.

And really, it was one of Taub's early comments that represents the state of the postal service in 2015: "In five months the USPS celebrates its 240th birthday. Very few people wonder if the mail will be there — it's always there and always has been … but will the mail be there in the future?"